Nutmeg takes it to the streams for spring cleanup

Our multi-stream clean-up was a great success thanks to outside members of the chapter.

Ross Ogden was the point person on the Mill and reported that only Ross, Bill Field and Dave Budds showed up on the Mill River. They worked hard for the three hours and removed a lot of trash.

Gian Morresi reported that he was the only member at the Saugatuck River. Three non-members showed up to help him at Devil’s Den and then they went to the fly-area on Ford Rd. to finish up. Chuck Macmath was at the Pequonnock. He is on our Board of Directors as well as being a Boy Scout leader. He was able to get thirty scouts and twelve parents at the Pequonnock to remove an entire pick-up truck full of trash from the northern end of Beardsley Park beneath Rte. 8. Local fishermen also put their rods down and helped out with the clean-up. Only 2 chapter members were present.

On the Far Mill River in Shelton, chapter member and point person David Edgeworth reported that 15 people came out and they made a big difference on that stream, removing many bags of trash. Only David and our Treasurer Alan Boyd were members of the chapter out of those 15 volunteers.

It gets more and more difficult for me to donate over 20 hours of my time each week to an organization that has no interest in involvement. Paying your yearly dues goes to the National organization and does not benefit Nutmeg in any way, shape or form. Nutmeg needs volunteers. Was I asking too much for three hours of the memberships time to clean our local streams?

There are members who religiously attend our monthly meetings and benefit from the knowledge of a free speaker as well as eating free pizza (both of which the chapter has to pay for) but those same members never show up for our events. In case you are unaware, this is a VOLUNTEER organization and we don’t ask for much.

When most people join T.U., they do so with the idea of making improvements on our local streams. How can we do this when only the Board of Directors and a handful of members are the only ones involved ? The BOD constantly has their hands full just trying to keep the chapter running. I am stepping down as President of the chapter this year after three years and out of 370 members, there is no one willing to take this position on. How sad is that?

I would like to gratefully thank all of the members and non-members who came out to make a big difference on our local streams. Clean, healthy water is what T.U. is all about and our local streams are better places thanks to you.

Support Conservation

See Also

Join

Trout Unlimited is America’s leading coldwater conservation organization. Our hope is that clean, cold, fishable water exists for generations to come, but we can’t do it without the support of committed anglers and conservationists like you.

Donate

Helps support Nutmeg Trout’s conservation and educational efforts. See our donation page for details on how you can help.